Bloggers: Watch What You Write!

That is, if you live in Saudi Arabia, or plan to travel there soon.  Don’t worry, there is an Indiana connection.  From the Muncie Star Press:

A former Ball State University student is being held and interrogated by his native Saudi Arabian government for comments published on his blog.

Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan [pictured in the middle] has been heralded as a brave blogger who criticized corruption and promoted “freedom, dignity, justice (and) equality.” In news stories since his arrest last month, he’s been labeled the kingdom’s most popular blogger, the dean of blogging and the godfather of blogging in Saudi Arabia.

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Now, more than a month later, friends continue to maintain his blog, www.alfarhan.org. A “Free Fouad” blog, www.freefouad.comincludes a petition visitors can sign and send to both U.S. and Saudi officials to demand Farhan’s release.

The pleas to release Farhan, 32, married and a father of two, are expected to get much louder in the coming days as President George Bush visits Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia.

Farhan studied graduate-level computer science while enrolled at BSU, from the summer of 1999 through the summer of 2000. Marc Ransford, a spokesman for the university, said records don’t indicate Fouad earned a degree here.

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A friend and fellow blogger of Farhan’s told The New York Times that Farhan’s arrest has caused fear among other bloggers that they also be detained for what they write.